Sunday night the nurse who was supposed to come had a "family emergency" and was unable to make it. We didn't find out until after seven and we were having our Sunday dinner and games with my brother and sister-in-law. They were so sweet and offered to stay overnight and help keep us awake. We didn't take them up on the offer (as tempting as it was) and J and I took shifts. J went to bed just before eleven and I stayed up until a quarter to six. Zuri woke up at seven-thirty and came into the room with me. She snuggled until eight-thirty. Despite J's best efforts, she kept coming into the room and I was "up" before nine. Needless to say, I was tired all day Monday for Labor Day.
I only mention it because we are starting to get really irritated with nurses calling off. That was the third time in less than six weeks--and it only seems to happen on the weekend or holidays. I just don't understand the lack of work ethic. If the nurse calls off, the family is left without a nurse. I am not supermom--I cannot function 24 hours around the clock. I need my sleep. We take care of Kai for 16 hours a day, plus we have another child to care for--we need that 8 hour break at night. I understand something happening every now and then, but three times in less than six weeks? Not cool. I don't want to complain, but come on!
Getting back on track; for Labor Day we met up with J's family and went to the Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. My sister, McKenzie came along with us, and we took our first adventure out with Kai. Although the weather was hot, we had a lot of fun. Kai did really well for most of our trip, but he started getting fussy when we stopped for the rides after the aviary.
It has been years since I have been to Tracy Aviary, and a lot has changed. We didn't watch a bird show, but the kids were more intent on going to the splash pool to get cooled off. They did have fun with a couple of misters that were set out, though.
The kids were (obviously) most excited about the birds that were out in the open. Peacocks ran all over the place, and there are a couple sections where you can get pretty close to the birds. The aviary has pellet machines where you can feed the birds--the kids had a blast doing that. Zuri had fun but wouldn't smile for the pictures.
After the aviary, Adilynn, Emery, and Zuri went on a little airplane ride (it swoops up and down as it goes in a circle). McKenzie was too big for that ride, so she, Maria and Kynlee, and I went on the Ferris wheel. McKenzie was a little nervous at first on the first couple of complete circles, but she enjoyed it. Poor Kynlee was terrified for the first quarter of the ride, then Nolan was able to get her to smile (he was off the ride) and she was laughing by the time it was over.
The splash pools were our next destination (also in Liberty Park), and the kids had a blast splashing around in the freezing water. We had a picnic, and not too long after we finished eating, Kai's ventilator beeped "low power" so we had to head back to the car for a power source.
The ventilator only goes for four hours on battery charge before it alarms low power. At that point we have approximately 45 minutes to get it plugged in before it shuts off. Scary. For obvious reasons, we don't try to test the limits of the battery life. We have a car adapter for the vent, but we have found that it doesn't charge the battery, it just keeps it from draining, so when we go places with Jeremy, we need to either have a power source or keep it under a four hour excursion.
We drove home with Kai's ventilator alarming at us most of the way. He fell into a deep sleep the last five minutes of the drive and didn't even wake when he was moved from the car seat to his stroller to transport him inside.
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